


There's No Knowing Where You Might be Swept Off to

by HouseFernFandom



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Action/Adventure, Friendship, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:35:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21815260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HouseFernFandom/pseuds/HouseFernFandom
Summary: Nothing ever goes as planned when Legolas and Estel are together, and this camping trip is no exception. With the Shadow ever growing, it is easy to forget that Sauron and his minions are not the only evil in the world.
Kudos: 4





	There's No Knowing Where You Might be Swept Off to

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Shades](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6789664) by [Aini_NuFire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aini_NuFire/pseuds/Aini_NuFire). 



> I don't use Sindaran translations, since I just assume Legolas and Estel would speak that way when alone. I don't know if it's ether's first language, but it would be more familiar than Westron.

A sound in the dark pulled Legolas out of his dreams. He turned to check on his companion and found Estel still sleeping quietly. The two friends were enjoying a rare moment where neither had anything pressing to attend to, and had decided to take a camping vacation out to The Angle. The lands lying just west of Imladris were as safe a place as one could find in this world, but even the safest of places were not without danger if the rustling in the brush was anything to go by.

The sound was loud, nothing like the careful stalking of a night predator, but neither was it the heavy tread of an orc. A moment later a loud wail from the creature awoke Estel as well. 

"What was that?" He asked so quietly that even the elf sitting right next to him could barely make out the words.

Legolas shook his head. 

By unspoken agreement the two companions got up and, weapons drawn, moved silently away from the camp and toward the noise. When they had gotten closer Legolas leaned over and whispered to Estel, "It is a child."

As they came up next to the creature, Estel could see that it was indeed a human child, no older than eight, and he was running blindly through the trees. There were tear tracks on his face, although he did not appear to be actively crying, his clothes were tattered, and there were several bleeding cuts and slashes all across his body. Estel sheathed his sword and stepped forward with a purposefully loud noise, while Legolas stayed hidden behind a tree, arrow still notched in his bow. In these dark days, one could never be too careful, and there was no guarantee that this truly was just a lost child. 

The boy whipped around as Estel dropped to one knee. The two stared at each other for a moment, Estel not wanting to scare the child away and the boy trying to figure out what to do with the sudden appearance of a man. When it looked like the boy was not going to bolt, Estel quietly asked, "What happened? What are you doing all alone out here? Where are your parents?"

Without warning the boy jumped forward with a loud cry and curled up against Estel's chest. "The monster!" he screamed. "The monster ate my mother! The monster ate my mother! She's gone! It took her!" Estel wrapped his arms around the boy and began rubbing his back trying to quiet him, as Legolas, weapon now away came up next to them. The child seemed not to notice the elf's presence or the man's attempts at quieting him and continued to sob and scream about a monster. 

"His wounds need to be cared for," Estel muttered. "We should get him back to camp."

"We need to quiet him," Legolas argued. "Something will hear him."

"If you have any ideas how to do that I would be overjoyed to hear them," Estel replied as he stood up, boy still in his arms. "It is too late anyway. Surely everything around has already heard him."

Legolas did not respond, for he had no ideas on how to comfort a distressed child and the second statement was true enough.

In the end, the problem resolved itself. On the way back to camp the child fell into an exhausted sleep, not even waking as Estel checked him over and bandaged his injuries.

"What should we do with him?" Legolas asked when Estel had finished.

"We could turn back to Imladris. Perhaps Father had heard something of a missing child or of this supposed monster."

"Nay, we should go to the nearest human village. It is closer, and surely they will know about one of their own missing."

"But what of the monster that the boy speaks about?"

"If there is indeed a monster, that is all the more reason to go to the settlements of Men. We cannot leave a human devouring beast to freely roam."

"Neither can we take a child to face such a creature." Estel, not for the first time, wondered about his friend's path of thought. True, the elf had no experience with children of any kind, but even he could not think it wise to take one into danger. 

"Of course we do not take the child with us." Legolas' look implied that he was also wondering about his companion's mental state. 

"We cannot leave him here alone." Estel narrowed his eyes. "And I am not letting you go off to face some unknown danger by yourself."

"I do agree with you that now is not the time to split up, but can you truly not see that he is far from alone."

"The horses do not count, Legolas."

"Not the horses. They spook far too easily." As if that was the only problem. "Besides that, we will be taking them with us."

"If we are both going, and the horses are to come with us, then who do you mean to watch him?"

"The trees," Legolas said, as though that should have been perfectly obvious from the beginning.

"The trees," Estel repeated slowly. "I know you like to talk to them, my friend, but they are not suitable watchers for a child."

"When I was an elfling I was frequently left in the care of the trees."

"You were not 'left in the care of the trees'. You ran away from your caretakers and guards."

"And yet," Legolas said with a laugh. "I turned out fine."

"That," Estel muttered. "Is debatable."

Legolas crossed his arms and glared. "And what would you have us do? Take the child back to Imladris, which is a day's hard ride from here and holds no guarantee of answers, only to then turn around and come back to this place."

Estel did not say anything, for he had to admit that did not sound like a good idea either. Going back could mean that the beast killed more people or slipped away entirely, but continuing could risk the boy. 

"The human villages are closer," Legolas argued, seeing his friends' indecisiveness and trying to sway him. "We follow the boy's trail back to where he came from. If we find a settlement then we simply return him; if we see any sign danger we will get him somewhere safe."

Estel finally agreed to this plan. He still did not like the idea of taking the child closer to potential danger, but this was the fastest way to return him to his family, and the best path to take to make sure that no one else was killed. 

They packed up the camp, carefully settled the still unconscious boy on one of the horses, and led the animals back to where they had first found him. The wild trail he had cut through the forest in his mad run was easy to follow. The undergrowth was flattened, and many low hanging branched had been broken. The way was also made clear by the occasional torn strip of cloth and spots of blood. 


End file.
